TLDR: my warrior fully upgraded their main weapon and now face a deficit of titanite chunks to upgrade other weapons, severely limiting my build in time when mages gain several new awesome spells as well as resources to upgrade their pyromancy flame and catalyst.
I’m replaying Dark Souls 2 (SotFS) after years of not touching the game and generally not spending much time with Souls-likes. I went for a warrior type, focusing on swords and crossbows. Despite not having access to any magic, I have a blast!
Yet, once the early game full of experimentations with weapons and drip fashion reached its’ end and I settled on a claymore +10 and a pretty looking “armor” set, my build became stale. I used up my titanite chunks on the claymore and I can’t gain more since the useless ore merchant can’t sell shit until you are 2 bosses away from winning. I have murakumo +7 and I switch to it sometimes but it’s hard to compete with a fully upgraded claymore.
The game throws twinkling titanite to me and I would love to use it on some cool weapon… but there are none! The only special weapon that could fit this build, Drangleic greatsword, is just worse than my claymore in terms of reach and moveset. Maybe it has a bit more damage when it’s fully upgraded but I’d still prefer the more convenient option.
Now, there are also boss weapons. Again, there’s only one that actually interests me - the flexile sentinel’s curved greatsword. It’s pretty similar to my murakumo except it weighs more and… that’s it? Stat scaling is a bit different but moveset seems identical. It looks cool though. But I dunno if it’s worth the investment. Are there other interesting boss weapons worth waiting for? I don’t really want to grind for petrified bones…
It’s especially aggravating because, when a mage reaches Drangleic castle, they get such a huge upgrade. Great combustion, several fire seeds, Soul greatsword, Firestorm, twinkling titanite for the best catalyst… it’s arguably the best part of the game for casters.
Honestly I just consider everything prior to the DLC areas to be almost pre-game. Whatever +10 you like best is fine for running through the base game, all the really really cool stuff is either a boss weapon or a DLC area item.
You could also just try other weapon types. A quality build (STR/DEX focus) has a wide variety of things they can use, most of them only marginally less optimally than a dedicated STR or DEX build, and many of them MORE optimally due to having more scaling stats. Regular old straight swords are considered one of the strongest weapon classes in the game and are great for this. Fist weapons and colossal swords are personal favorites of mine. If you’re getting bored with the claymore I pretty highly recommend upgrading a pair of caestus or claws and just going buck wild with them. Caestus lean toward STR and claws lean toward DEX if you have more of one than the other.
But yeah, base game DS2 has plenty of cool stuff, but they kept back all the real prime stuff for the DLCs. Playing Scholar you will have access to these. At the time in base game that Chloanne starts selling infinites of most of the upgrade stones, you’ll still have more than a third of the game left to go, so don’t worry too much about that. Go ahead and burn through the game until you defeat the Watcher/Defender, bone out of Nashandra’s fight and go enjoy some of the best content and armaments in the game before you come back to dunk her back into the Abyss.
As far as things you can access right now, though, you have some options. Many of the boss weapons are very cool, if you have a decent stock of Dragon Bones. In no particular order, here’s some things I might recommend based on what I’m reading here.
Finally, last note, as someone else said in this thread you can also just take a soul vessel back to the ladies at Things Betwixt and just respec your entire build. Those are limited, but not terribly so, you’ll get probably a dozen of them before everything is over. I used to use them like candy to float points in and out of my health and stamina to equip new and interesting gear, it’s not optimal at all to do that but you really don’t need it to be. You only need as many soul vessels as times you plan to change your mind on your build, and there are still ways to get more if you run out if you want to mess with bonfire ascetics. That’s advanced tech though, don’t mess with those too much. However, do use them to fight the four great soul bosses again and get their NG+ drops. Those souls give you more cool stuff that you may or may not want, but if you don’t want the items just eat them for another 255,000 free souls on top of whatever large amount actually killing the bosses gives. I don’t know how much it is but I think I used to be able to farm up a million souls for the Drangleic gate with like three or four cycles of The Rotten.
I’m going to cut this off here, but I have played this game for an unholy number of hours, please, ask me things about my hyperfixation if you have more specific questions. I love this game more than anyone else that I know. I’m happy to share.
I have a fire longsword all the way from the Giants Forest as a swap for when I need a spammy weapon - would be much harder to get through Earthen Peak without it. I neglected to mention it because my last session was just Iron Keep and Drangleic Castle and both favor poise-breaking weapons like my claymore over fast weapons.
This character is a realization of my long-dreamed build of a warrior with a melee weapon (a sword, most probably) in one hand and a crossbow in another, and I’m kinda held back by this vision. As such, I avoid going two-handed or weapon-in-each-hand stances.
I’m glad they didn’t make a good fight for the finale so I can avoid waiting through the unskippable credits /hj
My first ever playthrough was a mage with warped sword. It was kinda silly having 50/50 attunement/int, enough str and dex for this weapon while being at 5/5 vigor and vitality. I just loved the idea of being a glass cannon I guess. Headless golems still terrify me because I always expect them to kill me in one combo.
Noted!
I completely forgot about katanas! I’ll definitely play around with them to see which one’s best for the build.
I used to PvP with it as a cosplay. It’s soo good! Axes might be a bit short but they are surprisingly fast in DS2. A humble handaxe can do plenty of work too if you can afford nothing more.
I always forget that you can do it lol. My chosen armor follows the regular upgrade path so I won’t get it past +6 for awhile but it should suffice I think.
I recall only moonlight sword and chaos katana as the special drops. I think there’s also crystal spear? I’ll need to do it again to see what can be crafted.
Would be nice if Ornifex picked a better place for their workshopYeah that fire sword is the sword I use on probably every single character I’ve ever played at least through the end of Heide’s Tower, lol. It’s very valuable for the early game and it really never falls off if you keep its upgrade level up to date. It’s boring, but very effective.
Have you considered a rapier?
Regular old rapier is my go-to weapon for casters, for a couple of reasons. First of all, they look swaggy as hell. Second of all, rapier heavy attack is a parry, which means you have a defensive option in your hands even when you’ve got both hands full of sword and staff (or in this case, sword and
guncrossbow). That parry is probably one of the most dangerous and ballsiest moves in the whole game, but it also comes loaded with the biggest dopamine dump in the whole game when you actually pull one off.Rapiers also universally have high critical modifiers, and also additionally benefit from the Old Leo Ring. I think your crossbow should also benefit from the Leo as crossbow shots deal piercing damage.
When I think of “sword-and-gun stance” the first sword that comes to mind is the katana, and the second that comes to mind is the rapier. At least personally.
Several rapiers have something cooler than the parry as their heavy attacks, but I find them a bit lacking, and I usually end up going for the regular non-specialized Rapier that you can buy right in Majula. Spider’s Silk is also a good one though.
Tell me about it 🙄 I think you can technically defeat Nashandra and then just walk out without taking the Throne, but I don’t remember the specifics. I usually leave her fight for last so I don’t have to be concerned about it, and also so that I can come obliterate her body with my maximum power level.
Besides, Throne Watcher/Defender gear is great, their swords and shields are peak. Defender Shield almost always ends up being my end game shield in sword and board builds. Watcher’s sword is also very cool and powerful.
Moonlight Greatsword, Chaos Blade, Crypt Blacksword, and Dragonslayer Greatbow. They also can get you some spells instead, which aren’t as useful here - specifically, Crystal Soul Spear (excellent, off-build), Flame Weapon (also excellent, might be considered), Numbness and Blinding Bolt (both useless for you right now).
Remember that Straid also will let you access some boss soul items that Ornifex doesn’t, and vice versa.
Out of those options, MLGS is good but probably not fit for your build. Crypt Blacksword is damn good but also doesn’t fit the build quite perfectly, however it’s just about the only colossal weapon that I actually prefer to use one handed instead of 2H. CBS was my go-to PvP weapon back in the day. That boy hits like an isekai truck.
That reminded me that I had a specific plan for the very early game in DS2: specific way to get through the Giants Forest and then I always went to the Tower with McDuff’s hammer. This was primarily due to the limitations of the Deprived, mind you, but it was still quite tedious.
My problem with rapiers is that they have low poise damage and their narrow attacks are poor against groups of enemies. Since I don’t need to save on strength and dexterity (unlike casters) I can afford stronger options for my weapon.
I believe you won’t be allowed to leave (either it will teleport you to the same spot or won’t work at all) once you’ve beaten her. But maybe I’m thinking about DS1.
Hm, I’ve never considered their stuff. By the time I’m fighting them by build is so well developed that I turn ignorant to the new options.
CSS (huh) is so fun in PvP actually! Most players will easily dodge it if you just straight-up shoot it at them but if you add to this Soul Shover or especially the mist spells… panic and blocked vision turn Spear into Dark Souls’ save-or-suck spell!
That’s a good option if I end up with spell slots.
It’s interesting how it uses the greataxe movement despite being an ultra greatsword. I need to take a look at it!
My favorite PvP troll build of all time packed Blue Flame and as many casts of CSS as I could scrounge. Blue Flame is A) a sword, so you don’t expect it to be able to cast spells on its heavy unless you’re very familiar with the game, and B) casts just a hair slower than most staves do so it would fairly reliably throw off people’s roll timing once they did see the CSS incoming. That might have been my most successful blood arena build I ever made. I miss DS2 PvP quite a lot, I think it might have been the best in the series, but I might also be blinded by the rose tinted glasses. I was very active in the DS2 reddit for a couple years after release and again after Scholar came out. It was a good time.
Fair points on the rapiers’ poise damage, personally I keep the Stone Ring equipped pretty much from the cradle to the grave so that’s never bothered me all that much. If your build is otherwise ring dependent though I can see that being a problem. They definitely aren’t group attack weapons either, you need to bait and funnel to be effective with them. I’d argue that DS2 is heavy on the bait and funnel strategy anyway regardless of what you’re wielding, though. Drangleic loves a good gank.
Through Majula, into the Forest. Pick up the fire sword. Run Forest to Last Giant. Kill him. Parry Purse User to death. Dip into Bastille to grab the chest items, optionally open McDuff. Back to Majula, go to Heide’s. Farm Heide’s for a couple thousand souls and then kill Dragonrider. Skip Ornstein for now, back to Bastille. Wake up McDuff, grab his hammer. 2H the hammer and apply magic grease to kill the Ruin Sentinels. Pick up the target shield on your way out. Now the run begins.
I bet I did that exact set of steps probably a dozen times, lol.
Ooh, if this has been your attitude, you’re in for a treat for the DLC areas. Have you been to them before? You kind of give the impression that you haven’t. I know the first time I went to them I walked out with a half dozen new pieces of gear I wanted to upgrade immediately, from each of the three places. Fromsoft always cooks up something special in the DLCs, they’re commonly considered the best areas of their respective games and always have the coolest gear. But, they’re also almost always end game areas, so you don’t get a ton of time to enjoy your new stuff, other than just taking it with you into the next DLC area or into NG+.